Histopathology
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Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) represents a common pathway of damage to the lungs by a wide variety of different agents. The important aetiological factors and mechanisms of lung injury are considered. ⋯ Probably the most important of these is oxygen. This gas is said to produce interstitial pulmonary fibrosis but this concept is once again questioned.
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A clinicopathological correlation of the lungs on 68 cases dying from burns was carried out. The patients were divided into two main groups. Those in which the burns were the main cause of death (30 cases) and the others that had other serious underlying pathology as well as burns (38 cases). ⋯ Interstitial fibrosis was present in only 8/30 cases where burns were the main cause of death, and in some of these there were other causes for the fibrosis. No correlation was found between the presence of hyaline membranes, interstitial fibrosis and the percentage or duration of oxygen therapy. These findings once again question the validity of the concept of oxygen toxicity in man.